Well, I know you all are waiting with bated breath for news on my trip. Well, in Buzz's luck, J.D. blew his motor today and has farmed up out to Doug Teeter. UGHHH. I'm sure it will work out, don't think J.D. would give to just a "guy with a boat".

stay tuned...............

Hope y’all lean on them Buzz. When are you fishing?

He wouldn't risk his reputation. Go and enjoy.

It’s not hard there. Take your own rod so you might feel a fish. They are overall small

Thanks for the update. I was super concerned.

Here ya go Sneaky The trip was fun BUT !!! JD pawned us off on his back up guide. He definitely was there to get us fish and not much more. Being this was my first trip, I'm not sure if this is how it works. The guide was catching and keeping fish and when we got to 40 (4 of us paying customers) he quit, it was 10:00am, we left the dock at 7:00am. We were just starting to catch some bigger fish. Just seemed he was satisfied we had 40 fish. I guess it is what it is. Brother In law was correct most were "key chains." Glad I took my UL Spinning rig, made the small fish fun. I will go back when the shad are "grown," and the big fish come prowling.

We had a GREAT lunch at Franks, Great burgers and Onion Rings !! Highly recommend.

Red White and Blue



Tons of boats, typical as everyone followed the schools. Yes there was THAT DICC who drove right through the middle of the school,

That’s more like it.

The smile on that youngster’s face tells what it’s all about! That’s a win right there.

Most striper guides will tell you up front that they fish too and their catch counts against your limit. It’s actually the law (at least in Texas). Some of them don’t tell you that till you’re already on the water.

From the guides perspective, that was a winning day to put 40 box fish in the cooler that quick.
Some of the younger ones who can handle the heat will pick up another half day trip for the afternoon if they are wanting to get a new pair of shoes for the baby.
From the customer’s viewpoint, they paid their hard earned money for a full day or half-day and want their money’s worth but unfortunately that’s not usually how it works with striper guides on Texoma.

Very sorry you didn’t get to go with JD. But maybe next time.

It’s all about perspective. There’s some few guides that will target big fish first, but I think those are kind of the exception on Texoma this time of year.

Glad you had a good time. Those little one’s eat pretty good so there’s that!

The smile on the big kids face has a story all it's own. Glad it all worked out for you!

Looks like fun! You got the Guy Fieri thing going on, Buzz

Awesome pics, congratulations !

Usually guides don't fish, or at least don't fish to count toward the customers total of fish.

That why you tell you Guide up front you don't want to catch box fish, you want to fish and look for bigger fish.

I have heard the story many times about guides taking out customers and filling the box and getting back as fast as possible, doesn't sound that fun to me.

That's pretty crappie of your guide to add to your limit. I would seek out another lake and guide after paying good money

This is why I will only hire Littlejohn on Tawakoni. Top notch guide and will fill in an entire day. If you limit early on the species you hired him for, then you’re going to go after crappie or large cats

It’s a common practice at the coast.

I certainly wouldn't tip if that's the case.

I would also call up JD and let him know the guide he supplied caught box fish

Definitely let JD know.

That’s typical for Texoma.

My guide at the coast told us it’s illegal for the guide to catch fish towards our limits

I’ve been on a hybrid trip where the goal is to catch the limit and be done. I think the key is to discuss up front with your guide what you want. If you pay for a full day you should get a full day of fishing. If you go to the coast and fish with CPT Clint Smith he will make sure you get a full day of fishing and do his best to get your limits

I have never fished with him, but I can tell he’s good people from the FB videos he did and the long YT video on reading your sonar correctly.

Agreed. That sounds terrible. I'd be pretty mad if I paid for a full day and got 3 hours. But, glad y'all caught a bunch.

When we went, we paid for the experience of catching the limit of fish, not watching the guide do it for us. I'm paying him to take me fishing. I'm not paying him so he can fish. Sounds like you had fun, thanks for sharing the story. If I ever go again I'll ask about this up front as it didn't happen on our trip.

I forwarded this thread on to JD so he will know and get the feedback. The wham, bam thank you mam of Texoma is not his style of guiding or at least didn’t used to be.

Always let your guide know what you expect from the trip. Some people just want a limit of fish to take home, some people dont even want to keep any fish at all. Some want to fish all day long and others want to go home as soon as they get thier limit. Some people dont even want to fish, they just want to learn how to run a lake safely and know good areas to find fish when they come again in their boat. Some people want to use live bait, some want nothing to do with live bait. If you dont tell them up front what you expect then you are setting yourself up for dissapointment.